The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FAE Limited, Layo Bakare-Okeowo, has disclosed that 70 per cent of her company’s workforce are women.
Bakare-Okeowo, who is also Vice-President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, said the success of her envelope manufacturing business was largely tied to female employees’ attention to detail.
She explained that the nature of envelope production required accuracy and precision, qualities she believes women demonstrate consistently in the workplace.
“When you say it’s a 4×9-inch envelope, it must not be 4×8.5 or 4×9.5; it must be exact,” Bakare-Okeowo said.
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She added: “Everybody asks me why 70% of my staff are women. The reason is because in envelope making, you need to be well-detailed.”
The CEO further emphasised that women were naturally finicky and quality-conscious, attributes which align with the company’s production standards.
FAE Limited, founded 51 years ago, is regarded as the largest envelope producer in West Africa.
Bakare-Okeowo revealed that the firm imports German machines to maintain global quality standards, stressing that only top-notch equipment allows the company to meet customer expectations.
She said the company had introduced innovations such as tamper-proof, steel-resistant and RFID-protected envelopes to adapt to digital threats.
According to her, RFID-protected envelopes safeguard ATM cards and personal data against identity theft and financial fraud.
She also disclosed that the firm produces environmentally friendly paper products with embedded watermarks to prevent forgery of sensitive documents.
“When I tell people I make envelopes in this digital economy, they’re usually very surprised,” she remarked.
The entrepreneur noted that the post office in Nigeria posed a major challenge to her sector, as the inefficiency of postal services hampered distribution.
On raw materials, she lamented that Nigeria relied heavily on imported paper despite the country’s potential to produce paper locally from bamboo, kenaf, and recycled textiles.
“Paper should be Nigeria’s second oil,” Bakare-Okeowo declared, while criticising inconsistent government policies affecting the industry.
She said the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, held great promise for manufacturers, but logistics and transportation challenges continued to limit intra-African trade.
According to her, shipping goods to Germany is sometimes cheaper than shipping to neighbouring Ghana due to bottlenecks and corruption on Nigerian roads.
She called on the Nigerian government to create incentives for shippers and address persistent border delays and bribery.
Bakare-Okeowo also advocated for technical education to be introduced from kindergarten to build a strong industrial base in Nigeria.
She criticised the practice of politicians leading international trade delegations instead of manufacturers who better understand business challenges.
The CEO revealed that her company had faced setbacks due to bottlenecks at Nigerian ports, citing an incident where her raw materials were delayed for weeks because of customs system changes.
She described the situation as damaging to manufacturers who incur demurrage and increased costs due to inefficiency.
On women in business, she urged government to guarantee loans for female entrepreneurs to help them compete with men who often have stronger financial backing.
She highlighted technology and manufacturing as the two sectors with the most potential for innovation and investment in Nigeria over the next decade.
